The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court

I found this book a very informative and highly refreshing. The authors of this book, Sloan and McKean, have taken the most unusual stance of effectively presenting both sides of the political argument with hardly any bias toward one side or another- unlike many books written by historians. In addition, the author has written this book with the understanding that most people don't read a book like this in a single sitting. As a result, he quietly reminds the reader of important aspects from time to time and, as a result, keeps the information relatable and relevant. "Marbury vs. Madison" is a cornerstone of the "Great Experiment" and I highly recommend to everyone, regardless of your political persuasion, that you read this book!

This book gives a real account of the behind the scenes action of the greatest case in US Constitutional history. As a retired state court judge and now teaching constitutional law to criminal justice students at Remington College in Little Rock, this book gives a new approach to teaching about the beginings of Constitutional Law in America. I enjoyed this book and can use it in my classes.

This is a great book if you love the Supreme Court and the history of our country. It is an entire book on Marbury v. Madison. I had no idea how close we came to making the Supreme Court a weak sister to Congress and the Executive Branch. The book details the Judiciary Act of 1801 which created a whole bunch of new judgeships (and Circuit Courts of Appeal) by the Federalist Congress right before John Adams left the presidency filling the new positions on his way out. The Republicans took over Congress and Thomas Jefferson, resenting the fact that the Federalists would control the judiciary for a long time, exhorted the now Republican Congress to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801 and pitch out most of the so-called midnight judges. In the meantime, William Marbury sued the Secretary of State, James Madison, demanding that he be ordered to deliver the judicial commission. The suit was filed by Marbury in the Supreme Court because the Judiciary Act of 1791 authorized certain suits to be filed directly with the Supreme Court. Worrying about the courts getting too strong, Congress did repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801 and changed the Supreme Court "sessions" so that Marbury v. Madison could not be heard until Feb 1803. In the meantime, Stuart v. Laird was filed challenging the power of Congress to repeal the act which in effect removed 16 or so judges who had been appointed "for life" under the Act. Given the incredible atmosphere, Marshall crafted an incredible decision striking down the portion of the 1791 Act giving the Supreme Court original jursidiction over certain actions. A few days later the Supreme Court, without Marshall who had recused himself since he was the trial judge (on Circuit) in the Stuart v. Laird trial, agreed with the Marshall lower court ruling that Congress had the power to repeal its act. The book is easy to read and fascinating and I highly recommend it. I am a student of John Marshall and most books on him and the era are so heavily slanted to the constitutional law scholar that I wind up skimming much of the book. If you wants lots of heavy legal analysis, there are lots of law review articles you can read. If you want a sense of what was going on at the time, who the players were and how they interacted with each other in 200 pages, this is the book. Jon Hayes [...]

Attempting to shed light on one of the most important judicial decisions, "The Great Decision" is an easy read for those looking to gain a better understanding of early 19th century American politics. My biggest complaint, if you will, is that the coverage of the book wasn't exactly what the title depicted. The authors spend most (at least 2/3) of their time discussing the election of 1800 and the tumultuous political atmosphere that followed. Marbury v. Madison was certainly an integral part of this early stage in American history, but the authors seem to focus upon the thoughts and actions of Jefferson, Adams, and--to some extent--Marshall. As the authors jumped from tangent to tangent, I often found myself wondering how a each interlude fit within the bigger picture. Sure, these were interesting anecdotes and somewhat entertaining, but I wondered if they were included only to fill up the 190 pages of the narrative, as they did little but reinforce what the authors already discussed. The portions of the book that discussed the Marbury's trial, the decision-making process, and the actual decision, are EXCELLENT--this is what I was after in reading the book! The authors provide great organization and commentary of Marshall's opinion and provide a succinct and useful analysis of the decision's impact. The analysis included a few comments from current Justices, which provided a nice and relevant touch. Notably, the authors provide a summary of the five core criticisms of the decision. This brief discussion opened my eyes to a new way of analyzing the decision; I only wish the authors would have spent a little more time discussing the critiques. This book is certainly worth the read, but the first half (at least) seems to read like a more generic historical narrative of the "Revolution of 1800." With that said, I certainly appreciate the effort the authors gave in highlighting a case that, in my humble opinion, is far too under-appreciated.